Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge

Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Florida panther

Location	Collier County, Florida, U.S.
Nearest city	Naples
Coordinates	26°10′20″N 081°22′38″W / 26.17222°N 81.37722°W / 26.17222; -81.37722
Area	26,400 acres (107 km²)
Established	1989
Governing body	US Fish & Wildlife Service
Website	Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge

The Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System, located in southwestern Florida, twenty miles east of Naples, in the upper segment of the Fakahatchee Strand of the Big Cypress Swamp. It is north of I-75 and west of SR 29.

History

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The 26,400-acre (107 km²) refuge was established in 1989 under the Endangered Species Act by the US Fish and Wildlife Service,^[1] to protect the endangered Florida panther, as well as other threatened plant and animal species. The Florida panther is the only cougar population found east of the Mississippi River.^[2] The refuge is part of a network of private land and government protected areas. Some of the public sections of the system are the Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. In all, less than 100 panthers use the area, with fewer than a dozen passing through the refuge each month.^[1]

To protect the panther and other endangered inhabitants, general public use is only available at the southeast corner of the refuge, on designated hiking trails. All other areas can only be seen by way of limited tours.^[3]

Flora

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The refuge is a mix of dry, upland habitat and wetlands, including pine rocklands and tropical hardwood hammocks.^[4] Among the rare flowering plants there are tropical orchids such as Cyrtopodium punctatum and Epidendrum nocturnum.

Fauna

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Besides the panthers, the refuge is home to Big Cypress fox squirrels, bobcats, armadillos, raccoons, black bears, coyotes, alligators, swallow-tailed kites and several wood stork rookeries.

Statistics

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In 2005, the refuge had an 18-person staff and a fiscal year budget of $1,500,000 (with Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge). Approximately 8,000 visitors come to the refuge each year.^[4]

Notes

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^ ^a ^b "FAQ". United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved April 18, 2009.
^ "Range of cougar". Florida Panther.net. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
^ Schneider, Karl (July 8, 2021). "Feds plan to open more of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge to the public". Naples News. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Refuge fact sheet" (PDF). Retrieved April 22, 2009.

External links

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Media related to Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge at Wikimedia Commons
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge overview
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge at Defenders of Wildlife
Friends of the Florida Panther Refuge

Protected areas of Florida

Federal level

National parks	Biscayne Dry Tortugas Everglades
National memorials	De Soto Fort Caroline
National monuments	Castillo de San Marcos Fort Matanzas
National seashores	Canaveral Gulf Islands
National forests	Apalachicola Choctawhatchee Ocala Osceola
National wildlife refuges	Archie Carr Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee Caloosahatchee Cedar Keys Chassahowitzka Crocodile Lake Crystal River Egmont Key Florida Panther Great White Heron Hobe Sound Island Bay J.N. 'Ding' Darling Key West Lake Wales Ridge Lake Woodruff Lower Suwannee Matlacha Pass Merritt Island National Key Deer Okefenokee Passage Key Pelican Island Pine Island Pinellas St. Johns St. Marks St. Vincent Ten Thousand Islands
Other national protected areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve
National Marine Sanctuaries	Florida Keys Key Largo (1975–1990) Looe Key (1981–1990)
National Estuarine Research Reserves	Apalachicola NERR Guana Tolomato Matanzas NERR Rookery Bay NERR
National Wild and Scenic Rivers	Loxahatchee River Wekiva River

State level

Parks	Amelia Island Anastasia Avalon Bahia Honda Bald Point Big Lagoon Big Shoals Big Talbot Island Bill Baggs Cape Florida Bulow Creek Caladesi Island Camp Helen Cayo Costa Collier–Seminole Colt Creek Curry Hammock Delnor-Wiggins Pass Devil's Millhopper Don Pedro Island Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson Eden Gardens Egmont Key Falling Waters Faver-Dykes Florida Caverns Fort Clinch Fort Cooper Fort George Island Fort Pierce Inlet Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou Gasparilla Island George Crady Bridge Fishing Pier Grayton Beach Henderson Beach Highlands Hammock Honeymoon Island Hontoon Island Hugh Taylor Birch John D. MacArthur Beach John Pennekamp Coral Reef Jonathan Dickinson Little Talbot Island Long Key Lovers Key Mike Roess Gold Head Branch North Peninsula O'Leno Oscar Scherer Perdido Key Price's Scrub Sebastian Inlet Skyway Fishing Pier St. Andrews St. George Island St. Marks River St. Joseph Peninsula Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center Stump Pass Beach Tomoka Torreya Windley Key Fossil Reef
Botanical garden parks	Alfred B. Maclay Gardens Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Lignumvitae Key Ravine Gardens Washington Oaks
Lakes, rivers and springs parks	Deer Lake Lake Griffin Lake June in Winter Scrub Lake Kissimmee Lake Louisa Lake Manatee Lake Talquin Alafia River Blackwater River Dunns Creek Econfina River Hillsborough River Little Manatee River Myakka River Ochlockonee River Oleta River Suwannee River Three Rivers Blue Spring De Leon Springs Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Fanning Springs Homosassa Springs Wildlife Ichetucknee Springs Lafayette Blue Springs Madison Blue Spring Manatee Springs Ponce de Leon Springs Rainbow Springs Silver Springs Troy Spring Weeki Wachee Springs Wekiwa Springs Werner-Boyce Salt Springs Wes Skiles Peacock Springs
Recreation areas	Dead Lakes Gamble Rogers Memorial
Museums, historic sites, and archaeological sites	Addison Blockhouse Cedar Key Museum Constitution Convention Museum Forest Capital Museum John Gorrie Museum Ybor City Museum The Barnacle Bulow Plantation Ruins Dade Battlefield DeSoto Site Dudley Farm Fort Foster Fort Mose Fort Zachary Taylor Gamble Plantation Indian Key Koreshan Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Homestead Natural Bridge Battlefield Olustee Battlefield Orman House Paynes Creek San Marcos de Apalache Yellow Bluff Fort Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins Crystal River Lake Jackson Mounds Letchworth-Love Mounds Madira Bickel Mound Mound Key San Pedro Underwater
Preserves and reserves	Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Anclote Key Cedar Key Scrub Charlotte Harbor Crystal River Disney Wilderness Estero Bay Green Cay Wetlands Fakahatchee Strand Hal Scott Kissimmee Prairie Lower Wekiva River Paynes Prairie Pumpkin Hill Creek River Rise Rock Springs Run San Felasco Hammock Savannas Seabranch St. Lucie Inlet St. Sebastian River Tarkiln Bayou Topsail Hill Tosohatchee Waccasassa Bay Yellow River Marsh
State trails	Blackwater Heritage Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Gainesville-Hawthorne General James A. Van Fleet Jacksonville-Baldwin Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway Nature Coast Palatka-Lake Butler Palatka-to-St. Augustine Tallahassee-St. Marks Historic Railroad Withlacoochee
State forests	Belmore Big Shoals Blackwater River Carl Duval Moore Cary Charles H. Bronson Cottage Hill Deep Creek Etoniah Creek Four Creeks Goethe Holopaw Indian Lake Jennings John M. Bethea Lake George Lake Talquin Lake Wales Ridge Little Big Econ Matanzas Myakka Okaloacoochee Slough Picayune Strand Pine Log Point Washington Ralph E. Simmons Memorial Ross Prairie Seminole Tate's Hell Tiger Bay Twin Rivers Wakulla Watson Island Welaka Withlacoochee

Local level

Preserves and reserves	Boyd Hill Gumbo Limbo Moccasin Lake

National Wildlife Refuges of the United States

v t e Everglades
Geography and ecology Indigenous people Draining and development Restoration Everglades National Park Invasive species
People	Guy Bradley Ernest F. Coe Hamilton Disston Marjory Stoneman Douglas Arthur R. Marshall Garald G. Parker
Protected areas	Big Cypress National Preserve Biscayne National Park Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge
Bodies of water	Biscayne Bay Caloosahatchee River Fisheating Creek Florida Bay Indian River Lagoon Kissimmee River Lake Okeechobee Lake Worth Lagoon Lostmans River Shark River St. Lucie River Taylor Slough
See also	Alligator Alley Biscayne Aquifer Burmese pythons in Florida Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan Environmental Impact of the Big Cypress Swamp Jetport Everglades Foundation Friends of the Everglades South Florida Water Management District Tamiami Trail Ten Thousand Islands The Everglades: River of Grass U.S. Sugar
Category:Everglades Portal:Florida

Authority control databases
International	VIAF WorldCat
National	United States Israel